Children's judgments with regard to sex-role-related personality traits were investigated. Children, ages 5-13 years, viewed videotaped skits portraying traits stereotypically associated with one sex or the other (e.g. gentleness, stoicism). The children evaluated themselves, considered peers in terms of the traits portrayed, and assessed the social desirability of the traits. The findings indicated only modest concordance between the children's perceptions of themselves (as well as their peers) and the stereotypes. No age patterns were found consistently across traits. It seems that, when cued in by the task or instructions, children can accurately report the content of stereotypes and use them "appropriately". When not cued into stereotyping, however, they may or may not use stereotypes to organize their information processing. Investigators need further to identify the characteristics of situations which elicit the use of stereotypes.